Le Cafe Michi

Le Café Michi (1802 Pharmacy Avenue, Scarborough, Ontario)
416-490-9688

This restaurant was recommended by fellow food bloggers Professor Crunchy and Team Fatty so naturally I was anticipating a good experience at Le Cafe Michi. With that trust in mind, I ordered the omakase ($55). So exciting! No thinking and different dishes of the chef's selection come out one after the other. If I wanted to choose though, there's a small photo album with pictures of most of the set meals.

Green tea.

The other meals on the same page of the menu have either refillable green tea or coffee as a drink option, but the omakase comes with both. I quite like the cute little saucer that the cup sits on. The tea itself was a bit too light for me.

Dish 1.

The plate is cute and reminds me of a painter's palette. The squid on the left is cooked in such a way that it tastes raw. It's pretty cool. I like the sauces that they use for the squid and the vegetables in the centre. The middle bit tastes like Chinese choy. The beans on the right are sweet and can be the giant, tougher cousins to red beans.

Dish 2.

The nut bits are sweet and crunchy. The shrimp is full of awesome savoury flavour. Those are my two favourite parts of the salad.

Dish 3 and 4.

The steamed egg on the left has lots of stuff. There's even eel hidden near the bottom. Josie thought that it could have come in a smaller portion. The fried rectangular prism is crunchy on the outside, and really creamy on the inside. It tastes of seafood filling.

Dish 5.

The sashimi is really fresh. I'm surprised at raw shrimp and scallop. The one thing I don't like is the texture of the tuna. It's weirdly chewy, as if it was cut the wrong way.

Dish 6.

By this time, I'm already pretty full; however, the plate looks so exciting, I don't care. There are no cheap California roll fillers here. There's a three-piece egg and eel maki and three pieces of raw scallop maki. The raw one is more exciting. There's pink tuna belly nigri on the left, and also salmon roe and uni (sea urchin) pieces on the right. The uni is soft and kind of melts in my mouth. It's a lot less grainy than when I had it fresh out of the shell in Las Vegas. Josie said that she would've liked it to taste more like the sea. I live in Toronto, so I know that I don't want any of my food tasting like it came from Lake Ontario. The salmon roe nigri was the most exciting one for me. The little balls burst with salty flavour when I bite into them. 

Coffee.

Goes great with the cake.

Lemon cheesecake.

It's light and has a distinct lemon taste. It has a slight gelatin composition. I'd say it's pretty satisfying after the whole meal.

Total damage for my omakase: $73.

That's it for my meal. Here are what my buddies ate:

Casey's Cafe au lait chirashi.

Under all that raw fish goodness is a bed of rice, and hidden underneath that is some cooked eel.

Renée's cooked eel omelette on rice.

I'm sure that's not what it's called, but that's what it looks like. There seems to be quite a bit of eel in it.

Simon's meal.

I actually do not know what he ordered other than it was a fully cooked dish. 

Renée's green tea crème brûlée.

It sounds like it's fun to crack. The crème part is indeed very creamy. It looked a bit like Ninja Turtle ooze though.

Casey's green tea and red bean cake.

Josie's English trifle. 

Jess had something with too many blueberries on it, so I didn't take a picture.

There was also chocolate mousse sake cake, but I was pretty full. I guess I'll have to save it for next time.

Would I go back? Didn't I just indirectly say I would? The fish is fresh, everything is well presented, and I like how a slice of cake is included in the price as if everyone should always have cake after their meal. (There are à la carte options and other meal options that do not include cake, but the cakes sit tauntingly behind glass right when you walk in the restaurant.) This has been one of the more spectacular places that I've eaten at in a while. I'd definitely go back to try more cake and maybe some plum wine, and to just enjoy well-made and well-prepared food. My bank account will yell at me, but I won't care!

DELICIOUSNESS!